He was responsible for sanctioning project-based credit of several billion dollars to large infrastructure and petrochemical projects by leading Saudi companies such as Saudi Aramco, SABIC, and Ma’aden. Al Hamwah joined Saudi American Bank as an operations officer, was promoted to senior relationship manager, Government Public Sector (GPS), and then head of GPS. In 1992 he became country head of Energy, Petrochemicals, Shipping, Government and International Financial Institutions/Syndications (EPS & FI). Al Hamwah holds a BS Electronics Engineering degree from Michigan State University.